Boghall is Scots Trad Music 2023 Scottish Pipe Band of the Year; Domhnall Bàn MacDonald Music Tutor of the Year

At a gala event at Caird Hall in Dundee, Scotland, Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia was named the 2023 Scots Trad Music 2023 Pipe Band of the Year after a public vote.

The 2023 World Champions were nominated along with Grade 2 Glasgow Skye Association and Renfrewshire Schools, who compete in the Juvenile grade.

The prize was yet another feather in the cap in a storybook season for the Bathgate, Scotland-based band. In addition to gaining their first World Championship Grade 1 title, the UK Championship, the International Quartets at Piping Live!, and second in the RSPBA’s Champion of Champions table, one point behind winners Inveraray & District.

It was the first year for 19-year-old Kerr McQuillan in the leading-drummer role. McQuillan himself won the World Solo Snare Drumming Championship in October.

Inveraray & District received the 2022 Scots Trad Music Scottish Pipe Band of the Year award.

Previous pipers who have been awarded the Tutor of the Year prize include Craig Muirhead (2021) and Ian Duncan (2009).

The organizers reported that more than 100,000 votes were cast, a record for the competition, which was started in 2003.